Other officers are working part-time as undertakers and ski instructors as Tory cuts bite

Soaring numbers of austerity-hit police officers are taking second jobs – one even working as a pole-dancing instructor.

More than 23,000 officers now work on the side, a 19% rise on last year.

Other part-time occupations include undertaker, ski instructor and medium as cops struggle to make their day job pay in the face of Government cuts.

But the Home Office say there is no need for second jobs.

One source said: “They earn enough to focus on their police duties without being distracted by second jobs.”

But the Police Federation said a triple-whammy of wage freezes, increased pension contributions and axing of allowances has driven the need for a second income.

Police Federation chief Steve Williams said: “Police, just like the public, need to make ends meet and they are really feeling the cuts.

“They are losing thousands of pounds out of their pay packets.”

Officers with second jobs rose from 19,329 in March 2011 to 23,043 in May, say government figures.

Other officers declaring second jobs work as photographers, DJs, and 17 even own shops.

But Tory Justice Minister Damian Green has claimed that falling crime figures show that cutting police budgets does not increase offending.

And new reforms will attempt to get cops doing more for less.

But Labour MP Keith Vaz, chair of the Commons Home Affairs select committee, warned Hillsborough and “Plebgate” have damaged trust in police and is calling for a Royal Commission to restore confidence.

He said: “We need one so that the police service can tell us what they are doing and the public can explain what they want to do.”